By HUNTER O. LYLE
SALAMANCA, NY – Opening their season with an interstate invitation, the Salamanca baseball team defended their home turf with a 7-4 win over Otto-Eldred.
Entering this season, both teams held their fair share of question marks when looking at their rosters. Having large senior classes a year prior, the Terrors – who graduated eight – and the Warriors – who graduated six – were tasked with finding ways to bring their youth up to speed in the weeks leading up to the season.
“I didn’t have a lot of expectations for our execution, just because we have so many young kids. We ended up playing three eighth graders and starting two,” said Salamanca head coach Greg Herrick. “It’s tough to get all the practices that you need to execute at a high level because we haven’t been (out on the field) much.”
Out of the gates, the Terrors’ feeling-out process took some time. The initial issues began at the plate, where their bats struggled to get past the initial effort of the Warriors ace, Calum Farnum. Being dispatched with a trio of strikeouts in the first frame, they were served another three-and-out in the second, albeit, only tacking on one K in the process.
On the other side of the plate, O-E’s jitters followed them onto the mound. Entering the season with a void in veteran pitching presence, the gulf exposed itself early in the form of back-to-back lead-off walks. To make matters worse, the Warriors wasted no time twisting the screws.
Putting their aggressive foot forward, Salamanca quickly put two men in scoring position with a pair of steals, instantly reaping the rewards as a third wild pitch drove in Connor Seeley for the first run of the day. While they were then put out with three strikeouts over the next four batters, the Warriors doubled down in the bottom of the second.
Starting with Nolan Seeley’s single, a walk and sacrifice grounder from Clint Northrup, Salamanca was threatening sooner rather than later. Returning to the top of the order, Conner Seeley finally cracked the game open with a deep shot into centerfield, scoring one run, before Payton Bradley immediately followed it up with a sac-fly to put the Warriors up 3-0.
“We have to put pressure on. I don’t know how much we’ll get on base this year, we’re still a work in progress hitting-wise, but we’ll find ways to get on and once we do we have to be aggressive,” said Herrick. “That’s just going to be our identity all year, being aggressive on the bases.”
Down by not out, the Terrors all but closed the gap on the scoreboard once their bats got moving in the top of the third. OE14 found O-E’s first hit of the day, hitting a single down the left field line. He was then joined on base by Jack Sherry via another single before the pair rotated to second and third on tandem steals. Despite facing two outs, Michael Sheeler put the Terrors on the board at last with a two-run double to left field, narrowing the deficit to just one.
However, from there, the Terrors again went cold. After letting in another Salamanca run with a baulk with two outs in the bottom of the third, O-E’s momentum was dashed in the top of the fourth with another three-and-out. They would have to wait until the sixth to see another glimpse of action at the plate, and in the meantime, Salamanca regained control.
Sitting atop a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth, Connor Seeley tallied his second hit of the day, rocketing a deep shot down the left field line and up against the fence, granting him real estate on second base. One batter later, Bradley repeated the feat with another line drive double, scoring Connor Seeley, before he rounded home plate himself off a Farnum single, growing the Warriors’ lead to four.
In the final two frames, the Terrors mustered a few fleeting signs of life. Heading into the sixth with two outs and a man on first, Schenfield’s double to centerfield brought in Wyatt Blendinger for their third run of the day, but ultimately proved to be the lone bit of action in the inning. In the seventh, down by four, the Terrors found one final run when Macaibe Splain broke loose from third and stole home on a wild pitch, however, their last-ditch effort was not enough to overcome the deficit, producing O-E’s first loss of the season.
Salamanca was led in the batters’ box by Connor Seeley, who went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and one more batted in. Bradley also went perfect at the plate, going 1-for-1 and tallying one run and two RBIs. On the mound, Farnum threw for five innings, fanning 12 batters while allowing just four hits.
Splain shouldered the weight of the Terrors’ offense, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored. Sheeler, Schenfield, Blendinger, Gavin VanCamp and Shane Magee all also recorded hits in the loss.
“Just talking with the guys (after the game,) we need to work on our approach at the plate. We need to hunt fastballs early and I think we just watched too many strikes today,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Lance Baker. “Chalk it up to lack of experience, chalk it up to it being our first time outside. We’ll get better at it and in two days we’ll have to.”
AT SALAMANCA
R H E
Otto-Eldred 002 001 1 4 9 1
Salamanca 121 201 X 7 6 0
Otto-Eldred: R. Schenfield (3 SO, 4 BB), Sheeler (3) (4 SO, 1 BB), Sherry (6) (0 SO, 4 BB) and Splain
Salamanca: Farnum (12 SO, 0 BB), Stahlmhnu (6) (3 SO, 0 BB) and Bradley
